They’re first to 40.
The Florida Gators (40-8, 16-7) used seven strong innings from Alex Faedo and a career-high four RBI day from catcher Mike Rivera to beat Tennessee 9-3 and clinch the series on Sunday afternoon. This is the fastest any team in school history has reached the 40 win mark, and the Gators are the first team in the country to reach the benchmark.
“At the end of the year in the regular season, 40 wins is not easy to get to,” head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said after the game. “I’ve got to keep reminding myself we’re 40-8, 16-7 in the league.”
Florida got things started on Saturday with Alonso’s leadoff single in second inning.
Alonso moved up 90-feet when Tennessee second baseman Derek Lance couldn’t hold on to the ball trying to get the lead runner at second. Deacon Liput walked and Mike Rivera drove home Alonso with a single up the middle, the first of four RBI on the day.
Faedo struck out four batters through the first two innings before finding trouble in the third. tripled and scored on a wild pitch to even the game. O’Sullivan went to the mound to settle down his starter and it worked.
The Gators took advantage of two Tennessee miscues in the fourth. Nelson Maldonado singled with one out and reached second on a throwing error. Deacon Liput reached one pitch later on another error and both runners moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Maldonado scored when Mike Rivera grounded out to second and Dalton Guthrie drove in two runs with a double to left.
Faedo settled down. He struck out two more in the fourth inning on his way to a 10-strikeout performance, the fourth time this season Faedo has struck out double-digit batters in a game this season.
“He was really good,” O’Sullivan said of Faedo. “I think after the one inning where he gave up the run with the triple and wild pitch, he really settled down. I thought he did a really nice job today, he needed to.”
The Gators tacked on two more runs behind Mike Rivera’s eighth home run of the season. Nick Horvath, who entered the game in the third inning as a defensive replacement in right field, hit his second career home run in the eighth inning, extending Florida’s lead to 9-1.
Tennessee made things interesting in the eighth. Dane Dunning replaced Faedo on the mound but Dunning was pulled after just nine pitches and back-to-back hits that left two runners in scoring position for . The left-hander didn’t have much better luck, a groundout to second did earn the first out of the inning, but plated a run and a double trimmed the lead to 9-3. A walk left two runners on and O’Sullivan turned to his closer, Shaun Anderson to get out of the jam. Anderson stopped the bleeding and stranded three to get out of the eighth. Anderson closed out the game, giving up two hits in the ninth but stranded both runners.
Florida will return home for a Tuesday game with USF and then host Vanderbilt this weekend for the team’s final home stand of the regular season.